Many Tasks – Big and Small…

I often neglect this blog (bad habit, sorry!), only to suddenly say – wow, for how long I didn’t post anything new? So, forgive me lacking in this department, but life here is so engaging, pulling you in different directions… not always enough time to sit on front of computer.

Fruits of our labour…

We are safely off the hurricane season, and now can really enjoy living in Paradise without checking weather so often. Delightful! We are literally picking “fruits of our labour” in our garden. Grapefruit and mandarin jam is in the making, oranges, lemons, and so much more. I experiment with grafting, we planted so many new trees and other things…

I did some more short nature movies, posting them on Youtube. One of them – a documentary about Dominica recovery after Maria – actually won couple of international awards, also being presented in Sweden, UK and India, Check them out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbd8t2aqFAF2af0uqSl1BOA

Speaking of videos and films – the beautiful nature TV series about smallest creatures, titled Tiny World has been released, and it was delightful to see it. Great production, and filmed in large part in Dominica! Watching it, I felt honoured that I was invited to work with that team, contributing to this fine production. Thank you, Plimsoll!

Now I work on a new batch of photos and videos for Nature Picture Library, my stock image agency in UK. And that includes photographing of one of our garden’s tiny pests! So, at least they paid this way for messing up our tomatoes! Here are some of my nature photos…

Leaf-Footed Bug (Leptoglossus pyllopus) nymph in a garden. Dominica, Eastern Caribbean. (eating our tomatoes)

My new, modern, mobile-friendly website DerekGalon.com is up, thanks to my friend from Azed Marketing. Thank you!

What else? Quite a few other things of different caliber. Several smallish jobs, some videos for Government of Montserrat, photographing back at my favourite Dominica place Secret Bay, and a major job for another fine place here – Rosalie Bay eco-resort and spa. That was quite a nice work. Flying drone over Atlantic shore, between palms, inside rooms, photographing and filming it all. I also did a drone map of property, which will be used for all guests. Drone mapping is something I recently perfected, actually.

I love coming back to Secret Bay. Such a fine place…

Thing with drone mapping is, that it is more often done by engineers than pro photographers. Mapping software requires genuine untouched JPG images straight from the drone. This way all GPS and other location data can be used for a map or 3D model creation. Engineers and photo amateurs are OK with that. However – using JPG image straight from the drone means average quality at best. And, I am not interested in average, never been. And, not only it’s not looking so good – but also with missing detail! Often details are unsharp, or blown whites lose all details they would otherwise have. And, with mapping for safety inspections, constructions, and so on – details are crucial!

So, I spent quite a bit of time finding my go-around it, and now I can do it in a totally different way, but still feeding all required info to mapping software. Quality is drastically improved, and the map can be created with all Geo-location info. A win-win, happy to say…

Drone map of Rosalie Bay resort, made of 140 separate photos.

Ah, another thing I am quite focused on these days. We’ve meet a new friend. A determined lady running animal rescue center in Dominica. With a small group of volunteers they rescued hundreds of animals last year. And being a medical doctor, she takes personally care of injured or handicapped dogs. And, she has lots of success stories, with paralyzed dogs walking again, difficult rescues with help of fire brigade, and so on. If you know how tough Dominica can be, you know they are working really hard. Lots of personal respect for her made me dedicate many hours of work towards her cause. So, I did some photography and marketing, we donated some food, and plan to do much more in the close future. Check out their new, beautiful site created by their new sponsor, and if you feel like making even a small difference – I know it will be appreciated! Here is their Facebook page.

Well, let me finish this post with belated wishes of Happy New Year! Look at this photo – it was taken around midnight on New Year – a night rainbow created itself just to welcome new year. I just had to photograph it – straight from our patio!

All the best, I hope to see you here soon again! Cheers!

Derek

All photos copyright of DerekGalon.com Text Derek Galon and Margaret Gajek.
ArtPhotographyServices.com

#caribbean #dominica #discoverdominica #rediscoverdominica #adventure #hiking #holidays #drone #mavic #derekgalon.com #exploration #west indies #landmarks #documentary #4K #relax #healing vibes #relaxation #peace of mind #nature

Revisiting Papillote Gardens in Dominica

While life keeps us extremely busy with rebuilding our home after the hurricane Maria (we hope it will finish in about 2 months! Hurray!), we try to work on photography and video as much as we can. And there is lots of work to be done. Just recently our XL sized prints were placed on walls of S-Mart supermarket, adding a flavour of local nature to the store.

our prints on walls of S-Mart

 

Mounting my huge print inside Dominica International Airport

Soon after -in collaboration with #EliteEvents –  International Airport in Dominica had been decorated with even bigger size prints. We are working on a series of wall-decor nature prints available in several retail locations, and – same as these above projects – we do it in collaboration with the best printers in Dominica – Campbells.

Then, I had a creative photo-video session with a professional model and a friend – Nicole Morson. We worked together before. This time it was a horse-riding theme, courtesy of fantastic Brandy Manor Riding Center near Portsmouth.

I am now preparing for a short trip to Grenada, to do photography and video for promotion of a new luxury boutique resort – I should have more about it soon.

So, as you see – there is quite a b it of work we are tackling on top of our everyday lives.

Nicole Morson during our photo session

 

But during all these activities we also revisited the Papillote Gardens in Trafalgar – one of our most favourite Caribbean gardens. It is always  a pleasure to meet Anne, garden’s creator. She helped me filming several agouti feeding before sunset, and we were shown all recent changes and improvements.

During these visits we did what we always try to do – filmed and photographed, and Margaret had a short interview with Anne. The result is now available for you to see – a short video presenting Papillote Gardens. Have a look. We hope you will enjoy!

 

So, that is all for now, we will be in touch soon.

Don’t forget to like and share the post if you enjoyed it. All the best!
Derek and Margaret

Dominica Film Challenge

The last three months saw us crossing our island of Dominica back and forth, filming some amazing places. Now that all the work is already done we can sit down and tell you about it.

Margaret starting our drone in Scotts Head

For the last few years Dominica Tourism Authority (DDA) organizes Dominica Film Challenge to promote the island as a nature destination. So far it were teams of avid travellers from abroad who got invited to participate. But this year for the first time the concept changed, and only local Dominica filmmakers were invited to apply.

Nahjie securing our way in canyon

We offered ourselves to participate and were among the six teams selected to create a short movie on a given theme. Our theme was “hiking”, but we decided that we should expand over this theme, taking advantage of being both local and also foreign. I mean, yes – we live here for five years and know Dominica for much longer. But we also spent half of our life in Europe, then many years in Canada – travelling a lot – including various off-the-usual-path places, also in the Caribbean. That gives us a different perspective. We thought we could see what visitors may find most thrilling in Dominica, but also how the post-hurricane recovery and all the changes it caused may create an added attraction for them.

Margaret in the canyon

That gave Margaret a nice start to write her script, beginning with a short introduction of Dominica as a beautiful Nature Island, then reminding of last year’s hurricane and then going on a trip to re-discover Dominica and see the changes. We had some nice pre-hurricane footage and also documented Dominica soon after it. So, now we recorded recovering nature and visited some amazing locations, also filming short interviews with tourist guides.

Trafalgar Falls 6 months after hurricane

The trip we both remember as the most unusual was the canyoning with our friend and a fantastic guide from ExtremeDominica.com, Nahjie Laflouf, and his climbing partner, Junior. They brought us to a beautiful rock formation at the bottom of a canyon. Beautiful and amazing place to film. However, dragging the equipment through a rough path often changing to a vigorous stream, then through high river waters was not exactly easy for us, and without their help it simply would not happen! But the reward for this hike was amazing, and the footage shows it well.

on hiking trail over Freshwater Lake

Our favoutite locations such as Freshwater Lake or Trafalgar Falls were surely nice to revisit, but I also filmed in the bush, taking close-up shots of recovering nature and re-growing forest. The last on our list was a boat trip through the Indian River with “Fire”, a great guide we know for years. We found Indian River changed but really beautiful – as “Fire” said – we could see “a different kind of beauty” around us. We saw the nature bouncing back, a heart-warming assurance that soon it will regain its old glory.

Derek on boat with “Fire”

Being on boat with “Fire” is always great. Whenever we had visiting friends we made sure they go with him exploring Indian River nature reserve. But this time – although this is how he makes a living – when “Fire” heard we make a film to promote Dominica – he refused any payment for the trip. What a guy! Respect, man!

With all material in hand we spent quite a time editing it and crafting as a super-short movie.

We actually decided that requested length of 3 minutes did not have proper chance to tell our story the way we wanted – so we delivered… TWO movies! One is officially entered to the Dominica Film Challenge, and another one is a bonus. Two-for-one, well – you know – like a pizza. This version extended by two extra minutes shows more of nature recovery process which we find fascinating.

What really adds to our video is the voice-over. We were in luck to “discover” a great talent in the person of Kevin Francis who recorded Margaret’s narration in a single take, bringing out every flavour of this short text. Combined with fantastic music by our Polish friend, a guitarist Andrzej Chochol, it added a really immersive sound layer.

Indian River nature reserve

All work is done and delivered, now progressively launched by Discover Dominica along five other videos.

We surely hope you will this short film. We had a blast doing it, and thanks to it we visited places we did not see before. So, all is well. Now, click the link, have a look, and “like” and “share” the clip if you find it nice. Your clicks will help selecting the winning video!
Please use headphones if watching on a tablet or small laptop.
Dominica – Hike an Island Reborn

Enjoy!
Derek and Margaret

Please remember all photos are copyright Derek Galon and Ozone Zone Books. No usage without written authorization. Thank you.

#DominicaFilmChallenge,  #rediscoverDominica, #DiscoverDominica

 

Busy Months of Recovery

Things are busier than ever these days. Partly due to rebuilding our destroyed home which is a tedious process slowed down by shortage of building materials and qualified professionals. And partly due to amount of work on our everyday plate. You know, we do many different things on top of our “real” professions. Photographing things around us is more intense than ever – it is time of fascinating changes after the hurricane. Balance of things in nature changes frequently, so does the look of the whole island. We try to document as many such changes as possible for local use and also to offer on Getty/iStock sites.

African Tulip tree in full bloom

Then we need to take care of five dogs which became part of our family after the hurricane. The newest addition – a small puppy we found hungry, full of flies, half-dead on streets of Roseau proved to be real challenge, for it had a nasty Parvovirus our other dogs picked up. Vet visits, treatments, nursing sick dogs -a real zoo – you can imagine. All ended happily, and thanks for that because other work just piled up.

Fascinating shapes created in our forest by aggressively growing vines

For last several months I am involved in filming documentary material for one of big-wig nature movie TV producers (more about it is another subject requiring a separate post later on). So, I film with our drones using GPS routing for elaborate aerial time lapse video showing progress of nature healing itself. That requires regular trips to different spots on the island, over and over.
Then we had the photo competition to take care of, another article for MACO Caribbean Lifestyle magazine, several smaller photo-shoots, and so on.

Mountain Chicken frog in Dominica

And just recently, with production of a short movie for Discover Dominica Authority in mind, we photographed and filmed beautiful Dominica Jaco parrots and endangered “Mountain Chicken” frog. That proved to be both challenge and fun. Parrots are smart and playful creatures. Filming them up and close wasn’t exactly easy as they are constantly moving in unpredictable ways – but it is work like this which makes it living in Dominica such a great experience.

Jaco Parrot in Dominica

Therefore we want to share with you some of these photographs. If you plan to visit Dominica, maybe you will see these parrots yourself. We hope you will. But hey – for now you can at least enjoy these photos.
Until next time!

Derek and Margaret

Please respect the copyright, ask for permission before using any of these images.
Thank you!

Jaco parrot in Dominica

Derek’s work can be seen on www.ArtPhotographyServices.com

Ozone Zone International Photo Salon 2015 – results

We did not post anything for quite a while. It was a very busy time for us. Among other things we had to process all images, organize judging, Awards Gala evening here in Roseau, Dominica, and take care of other tasks to finalize the 3rd International Ozone Zone Photo Salon 2015. And yes – the Salon is closed and the catalog of winning and accepted images is already posted on line.

If you enjoy fine photography, please have a look. There are some amazing entries, and we are proud to see so many great works. We already work on the next competition – our 4th Salon, to be open in early June.  Here are links to the winners’ list and the catalogue. Enjoy!

The catalogue is here:
http://www.internationalphotocompetition.com/catalogue2015/index.html#p=1

The list of winners and accepted images by country is here:
http://www.internationalphotocompetition.com/index.php/en/winners

 

The image below is our Grand Prix winner, titled Awakening, by Marek Biegalski from Ireland. Congratulations to the author!
(image is copyrighted, no usage without author’s agreement)

Awakening – Marek Biegalski, Ireland.

See you next time, cheers!

Derek and Margaret

Serenity

Morne Guay, our current home.

Last couple of months were a busy time for us. We received our residency documents, created proposal for publishing a tourism magazine, edited videos for Tourism authority in Montserrat  (lots of my photos from 3 months ago are already on their new Web site, check it out!), and took some more photos and aerial videos for clients in Dominica. We are also updating our photo competition site and work on improving our culinary skills – in order to soon open so called “closed door restaurant” here in Dominica. On top of that we meet with our architect and builder, preparing our land to build our new home.  So, why do I title this post “Serenity”?

Well, work is something we will always do and have, being idle is not our thing. But the place we rent now – one of the oldest inhabited houses in Dominica – it radiates sense of peace and serenity. Mornings with breakfast on patio with fresh breeze, afternoon coffee watching yachts on Caribbean sea, listening to birds, hissing sound of bamboo wadding in wind – it all is quite a new experience for us. A bliss of serenity, harmony and peace. We love every moment spent around this house, and we want to share with you a few insignificant, but lovely things we just experienced.

A male Cigarron awaiting female

We noticed amazingly big bee-like insects clumsily flying in our front garden. Totally black, insanely huge – like a small hummingbird – they make strong impression and lots of noise. We tried to find more about them and found only a skimpy info on line. Someone said there are huge black bee-like insects which are sting-less and clumsy. Local name for them is Cigarrons as they bring to mind flying black cigar. We started watching them and soon noticed that the huge black one is actually female. Males are about only 1/3 of their size, nice brown and more bee-like.

Did meet one!

They hide in dense bushes where they fly in small circles, performing a sort of dance and trying to attract these big black females.  I was lucky enough to take couple of photos. Hopefully those who see Cigarrons will enjoy these photos – and also appreciate our impression that indeed these are sting-less (or at least not using stings in aggressive way). I intruded with my camera quite enough to irritate a more aggressive insect. But these big ones don’t mind.

Glassy Point cliffs on Atlantic side of Dominica

We went for an excursion yesterday. We visited a place called Glassy Point. What a magnificent rocky shore of Dominica! Atlantic side can be rough, but seriously beautiful at the same time.
Here is a photo taken from the sharp cliff.

And here is another unrelated story  adding to our experience:
There were couple of wild dogs living in our area. We heard them at night, and sometimes saw them far away, but they are very shy. And just 3 days ago a dog – female and a mother – decided our place is the safe place. She drops off her 5 puppies at the edge of our lawn, disappears for hours, and they just play around. She comes and goes. we give them leftovers from our diners, and they love it! So, suddenly we have 5 little puppies, and a friendly mom.

Well, not much of a big story, but all these little things add lots of colour to our current life. We hope you enjoy reading about them.
Cheers, until next time!
Derek and Margaret

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(all photos by Derek Galon, please respect copyright)

PS. We just have a small announcement, we are selling 1 acre of land in Giraudel, Dominica. it is a prime location. Have a look if interested, thanks!
https://dominicalandforsale.wordpress.com/

Roseau and last cruise ship of the season. Aerial photo from session I did for a client.

 

Carnival Fun in Dominica (2015)

On a typical winter day, tourists get off cruise ships in Roseau to explore narrow, sleepy old streets and lanes and take some snapshots of tiny, cute houses built here long ago.

It all changes during Carnival time. Streets are full of activities, and the town is bustling with music, performers and excited crowds. Specially the two last days of Carnival season (13th and 14th of February) are full of colour and activities covering all streets of town.

The festivities take place day and night. Concerts and performances in Fort Young Hotel and other places go until late hours (so late it’s rather early) At some 4 in the morning a strange parade fills normally quiet streets signalling part of Carnival called J’ouvert. Under cover of darkness a mocked wedding ceremony is repeated over and over. Strangely dressed brides and grooms of all sorts create an unusual mystery like from a fantasy or dream, only to disappear in early morning hours. But one does not wait long for more fun. The colourful parades – so attractive to all tourists and locals – draw large crowds of people awaiting spectacularly dressed performers. And they come in big numbers.

Different t-shirt bands, kids’ groups, amazingly dressed adults and official winners of several Carnival categories march together through Roseau forming a long, noisy stream. Dancing to Caribbean rhythms, this parade later regroups forming smaller clusters of people having fun. Two full days and nights of dance, music, food and drink, and most unusually dressed performers are certain to make strong impression on all visitors.

We photographed for a few hours on streets of Roseau, catching the most spectacular creations. Some dresses go actually far behind typical dress as you know it. They are whole contraptions surrounding parading performers and actually being wheeled along them on little carts. Whole compositions of most unusual props, balloons, ribbons and many other colourful things are mixed into each spectacular creation.

I am happy to show you some of awarded dresses and best performers of this Carnival in Dominica.
Perhaps you should consider enjoying them next year in person!

Cheers!
Derek

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All photos by Derek Galon, please respect copyright.

Dominica – We Arrived!

So, we did it! We said goodbye to Victoria, BC, Canada, and left for Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean! Flying from Victoria through Vancouver and Toronto, we had three days in Barbados before getting on the final LIAT flight to Dominica.

Hunte’s Gardens, Barbados – in October 2014 (photo Derek Galon)

Air Canada prepared for us a farewell surprise – they lost our luggage. We arrived in Barbados in rather warm long-sleeve Canadian clothes, and were kept on a warm side for two extra days until our luggage materialised again. That did not stop us from visiting our favourite places in Barbados – the Welchman Hall Gully and Hunte’s Gardens. Both places look quite amazing, they matured and changed quite a bit since our last visit.

Hunte’s Gardens are now  a definite #1 attraction on Trip Advisor, and we fully agree with it.  It is an unbelievably designed, beautiful garden full of nooks and surprises.  Photographing it was actually our first job in the Caribbean as Caribbean residents. Despite the sweat  (our warm clothes) we spent several hours documenting recent changes all over the place.  These photos will be used by Virgin Atlantic for their guide to Barbados, and by Barbados Tourism Board for a local tourist map.

Hunte’s Gardens – lower level (photo Derek Galon)

 

Our welcome surprise in Dominica!

Dominica greeted us with truly beautiful weather and very smooth proceedings through customs. We felt like returning home. A short ride brought us to the apartment we are renting in Eggleston – a village high in hills above capital town of  Roseau. A nice surprise – Dutch friends who live in Dominica dropped off some grocery shopping for us, along with a fine composition of local exotic flowers! Thank you!

Evening view at Caribbean Sea – from patio of our apartment in Dominica.

So, here we are, awaiting arrival of our car ordered from Japan, taking care of formalities (permanent residency permit), and accommodating to the new life style. The last one is not so difficult, as getting around is a true delight to us.  Super friendly people, relaxed atmosphere – it all is just what we need at the moment.

View from our apartment at hills and volcanic mountains of Dominica.

Today we received news from Canada that our container started its journey from Victoria to Dominica, so we will be awaiting its arrival in about a month time.

Our container gets off – first meters of 7,000 miles journey

In regard to our photography work – it seems like a nice start. We are discussing with Montserrat Ministry of Tourism a week-long photo shoot in Montserrat (it would be lovely to return there – remember our volcano shots?), and we are also getting accreditation for the International Creole Fest here in Dominica. We arrived right in time for this huge yearly event. Three days and nights of concerts, with participation of the best Caribbean and international artists. We may not stay awake until 6am every night (yes, concerts end at 6am!), but I am sure there will be lots to photograph while we will be awake!

Stay tuned! And SHARE/FOLLOW if you like this!

Cheers!
Derek
(please respect copyright of my photos)

Today Is The Day (personal thoughts)

Today, after some 28 years of living in Poland and next 26 years spent in Canada – we are moving to Dominica! It will be a major challenge. Will we enjoy and handle it all? Well, we already changed our country of residence before, and we hope we will cope. We plan to put all our skills, professional experience and enthusiasm, to promote the beauty of Dominica and other Eastern Caribbean islands. But will the Dominica be good for us? So many unknown factors.

walking in Victoria, Canada…

We went for a last stroll on Pacific shore, right here in Victoria, British Columbia – on Vancouver Island. It is a beautiful place indeed, and some people say we must be crazy to leave it for an unknown future. Perhaps we are a bit crazy, but we hope to find the new destination rewarding, with a more balanced life-style. We hope to leave behind the race for better jobs and always more money, we hope to find a bit of time for ourselves.

My last photo session in Victoria – with friends Michael Ward (on photo) and Jon Hoadley.

Yes, changing the life style is perhaps the most appealing factor behind our decision. But still, before we can hope for that, it will be a hard start. We don’t have a place to live and we will need to quickly rent something, we don’t have any gigs in the Caribbean yet. We are not kidding ourselves, it will be a hard start. But we really hope it will be worth it. So, will the Caribbean be good for us? We love this region and were always happy to return to do our photography and publishing work. But it is different to be visiting – even frequently – and living there permanently. So many unknown factors. We will be newcomers. We will need new contacts, opportunities, friends…

We know one thing for sure, whoever will hire us for world-class photography services or our internationally awarded publishing – will not regret. We know we are good at what we do. It is for others to try and discover it… so, perhaps we also need others’ good will and a bit of trust.

Ah, there is one more thing we will need – some good luck! We hope you can wish us good luck…

Thank you!
Derek

PS.
We will be posting progress of our moving and settling in Dominica here. We will stop in Barbados to see friends (Hunte’s Gardens, Welchman Hall Gully, and others), then we will fly to Dominica a few days later.
Stay tuned and Follow this blog to get all these news. And of course – please Share and Like it!

The New Beginnings

Last pieces of furniture leave our Canadian home.

We already did it once before. We packed our things, and moved out of our old country – to Canada. It was some 25 years ago, we arrived with two suitcases to a totally new life saying good bye to our careers in Poland – me – an active jazz musician, jazz group manager and photographer, Margaret – a young art historian cataloging old churches all over the country.

We had to reinvent ourselves in Canada many times to keep on the surface. We landed in British Columbia and had the last few years pretty stable. And now, it happens again! Except that this time we are older, and are packing a container full of stuff we may need – computers, wide format printers, all our office and photo/studio gear, plus many other little things which may not be easily available there. Where? In Dominica, Eastern Caribbean region. Yes, we decided to move to Dominica and many people call us crazy. Time will tell if they were right.

shores of Dominica

We went some 3 months ago to Dominica to do some more photography work for a hotel and an eco-resort. And we thought – why do we have to fly so far every time we have to do a job there? In fact, we have more work in the Caribbean than in BC and Canada. So, why not to try to live there at least for a while, and see how it goes? We love the place, which made our decision even easier.

Volcanic hills of Dominica

We sold our house in Victoria, packed up our container, and now we prepare for the Big Move, which will happen in October. We registered there our company Ozone Zone, so we can continue our work under the same name, and we are excited to start a new life. New beginnings once again! We will keep you posted on this blog with progress of things – good or not so good. So, make sure to follow this blog to get all updates. We were quite silent for last months as it was incredibly busy with selling house, moving out, deciding about details, closing business in Canada, preparing for the move, etc. I also had my last art photo session with old friends here. Now all is clear to us, and we have green light to go. Stay tuned!      We will be in touch!
Derek and Margaret

Emerald waterfalls in Dominica.